STATE GOVERNMENT

SENATE FILE 2188 - Human Rights - Asians and Pacific Islanders - Commission
SENATE FILE 2215 - Investments by Iowa Finance Authority - Funds Established by Treasurer of State
SENATE FILE 2308 - Legislators' Per Diem - 2004 Regular Session
HOUSE FILE 2167 - Department of Inspections and Appeals - Inspections Division Eliminated
HOUSE FILE 2193 - Cosmetology Licensure - Training Requirements
HOUSE FILE 2201 - Massage Therapy - Exemptions From Licensure Requirements
HOUSE FILE 2207 - Substantive Code Corrections
HOUSE FILE 2208 - Nonsubstantive Code Corrections
HOUSE FILE 2262 - Public Employee Retirement Systems and Other Benefits - Miscellaneous Changes
HOUSE FILE 2452 - Athletic Training - Licensure Requirements
HOUSE FILE 2467 - IowAccess Advisory Council - Quorum
HOUSE FILE 2497 - State Government Employment - Sick Leave and Vacation Incentive Program - Employee Supervision
HOUSE FILE 2520 - Government Purchasing Procedures - Iowa-Based Products and Services

RELATED LEGISLATION

SENATE FILE 2153 - Public Health Emergencies or Disasters - Financial Assistance

SEE HEALTH & SAFETY. This Act allows the Iowa Department of Public Health to provide financial assistance to local governments in the event of a public health emergency or disaster.

SENATE FILE 2208 - Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and Agricultural Regulation - Miscellaneous Changes

SEE AGRICULTURE. This Act exempts the Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship from requirements of Code Chapter 8E, the Accountable Government Act.

SENATE FILE 2213 - Fishing and Hunting Licenses - Cancellation for Nonpayment of License Fee

SEE NATURAL RESOURCES & OUTDOOR RECREATION. This Act permits the Department of Natural Resources to adopt rules to cancel fishing and hunting licenses issued by the department when the licensee has failed to pay the applicable license fee.

SENATE FILE 2269 - Elections and Voter Registration

SEE ELECTIONS, ETHICS & CAMPAIGN FINANCE. This Act makes changes to the law relating to elections, absentee voting, and voter registration. The Act contains Code language changes which, unless otherwise noted, are necessary to comply with requirements of Pub. L. No. 107-252, the Help America Vote Act of 2002. The Act takes effect April 16, 2004, and applies to elections held on or after September 15, 2004.

SENATE FILE 2282 - Loess Hills Study

SEE NATURAL RESOURCES & OUTDOOR RECREATION. This Act requires the Loess Hills Development and Conservation Authority, in consultation with the State Advisory Board for Preserves, to conduct a comprehensive study of the Loess Hills. However, the Act takes effect only upon receipt by the authority of federal, state or local funding for the study and a report.

SENATE FILE 2298 - Government Funding, Administration, and Regulation - Appropriations and Miscellaneous Changes

SEE APPROPRIATIONS. Division IX of this Act permits the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy to charge more than one-half the costs of providing the basic training course for FY 2004-2005. The division also makes changes in the distribution of certain delinquent fines and costs collected by the county attorney which otherwise would have gone to the state under current law.

Division X provides for the increase in the membership of the Commission of Veterans Affairs, changes the qualifications for Commandant of the Iowa Veterans Home, and authorizes the commission to establish and operate a veterans cemetery; addresses the compensation and benefits paid to state employees; provides for nonreversion of moneys appropriated for the Military Pay Differential Program and Health Insurance Retention Program; authorizes the State Board of Regents to issue revenue bonds for a five-year building program at the regents universities; provides a special provision for reversions and full-time equivalent positions of charter agencies; provides that the requirement that health care facilities assist in identifying residents who are eligible for benefits from the federal Department of Veterans Affairs does not apply to individuals admitted to the Iowa Veterans Home; provides for nonreversion of moneys appropriated for investment in reinvention initiatives to produce ongoing savings; and allows all of the money, instead of just 20 percent, appropriated to the Local Government Innovation Fund to be used in the form of forgivable loans or grants.

Division XI makes appropriations from the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund to various departments and agencies for infrastructure and capital projects.

S.J.R. 2007 - World Food Prize Awards Ceremony

SEE ALCOHOL REGULATION & SUBSTANCE ABUSE. This Joint Resolution authorizes the consumption of wine at an awards ceremony to be held by the World Food Prize Foundation at the State Capitol on or around October 14, 2004.

S.J.R. 2009 - Annual Meeting of MidAmerican Chapter of American Association of Law Librarians

SEE ALCOHOL REGULATION & SUBSTANCE ABUSE. This Joint Resolution authorizes the consumption of wine in the State Capitol during a social event to be held in conjunction with the 2004 Annual Meeting of the MidAmerican Chapter of the American Association of Law Librarians.

S.J.R. 2010 - Proposed Constitutional Amendment - Tax or Fee Increases

SEE TAXATION. This Joint Resolution proposes an amendment to the Constitution of the State of Iowa requiring that certain tax or fee increases will not take effect unless approved by majority vote at a state general election. The Joint Resolution will be referred to the next General Assembly. If the next General Assembly adopts the Joint Resolution, the amendment will be submitted to the voters for ratification.

HOUSE FILE 593 - Election Law Changes - VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR

SEE ELECTIONS, ETHICS & CAMPAIGN FINANCE. This bill would have made changes to the law relating to elections and voter registration.

HOUSE FILE 2133 - Lottery Authority Budget Information - Reports to Legislature

SEE GAMING. This Act provides that copies of budget information submitted by the Iowa Lottery to the Department of Management shall also be submitted to the Legislative Government Oversight Committees and the Legislative Services Agency.

HOUSE FILE 2200 - Arson and Fire Safety Regulation

SEE HEALTH & SAFETY. This Act requires that all contractors who engage in or represent to the public as in engaging in the business of layout, installation, repair, addition, maintenance, or maintenance inspection of automatic fire extinguishing systems be certified by the State Fire Marshal pursuant to the provisions of the Act.

HOUSE FILE 2318 - Campaign Finance - Committee Organization or Dissolution - Contributions

SEE ELECTIONS, ETHICS & CAMPAIGN FINANCE. This Act makes a series of changes to the campaign finance laws in Code Chapter 68A.

HOUSE FILE 2358 - Practice of Cosmetology - Miscellaneous Changes

SEE HEALTH & SAFETY. This Act makes technical and substantive changes relating to the practice of cosmetology.

HOUSE FILE 2402 - Interdepartmental Appropriation Transfers - VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR

SEE APPROPRIATIONS. This bill would have revised the authority of the Director of the Department of Management to make interdepartmental transfers of appropriations.

HOUSE FILE 2404 - Alternative Forms of County and City Government

SEE LOCAL GOVERNMENT. This Act makes technical and substantive changes to the law relating to alternative forms of county government and to certain forms of city government, including the process by which such alternative forms of government are proposed and adopted. The Act takes effect April 13, 2004.

HOUSE FILE 2441 - Spanish Language Interpreter Qualifications

SEE HUMAN SERVICES. This Act relates to the development of a mechanism by the Commission of Latino Affairs to ensure Spanish language interpreter qualifications and relates to providing a list of such interpreters to specified state agencies.

HOUSE FILE 2447 - Elevators, Boilers, and Pressure Vessels - Regulation and Safety

SEE HEALTH & SAFETY. This Act rewrites the Code chapters regulating boilers and unfired steam pressure vessels and elevators, Code Chapters 89 and 89A, to establish a Boiler and Pressure Vessel Board and an Elevator Safety Board within the Labor Services Division of the Department of Workforce Development. Each board is given rulemaking authority, including the authority to hear and decide contested cases. The Act strikes the Labor Commissioner's rulemaking authority in these areas, except with regard to requirements for special inspectors. The Act also establishes within the State Treasury, under the control of the commissioner, a Boiler and Pressure Vessel Safety Revolving Fund and an Elevator Safety Fund. The Act takes effect April 26, 2004.

HOUSE FILE 2484 - Regulation of Financial Institutions and Real Property Transactions

SEE BUSINESS, BANKING & INSURANCE. Division I of this Act reorganizes the Division of Banking of the Department of Commerce by eliminating the position of deputy director, changing the name of the State Banking Board to the State Banking Council, and making other technical and correctional changes related to the Division of Banking and the regulation of state banks.

HOUSE FILE 2496 - Physical Therapy - Use of Professional Titles and Other Designations

SEE HEALTH & SAFETY. This Act permits the Department of Public Health to revoke a license to practice for the false use of a physical therapy title.

HOUSE FILE 2516 - Notarial Acts - Certifications of Uniform Citation and Complaints

SEE CRIMINAL LAW, PROCEDURE & CORRECTIONS. Under this Act, a chief officer of a law enforcement agency or the chief officer's designee is not required to use a stamp or seal when certifying the verification of a uniform citation and complaint.

HOUSE FILE 2571 - Agricultural Landholding Reporting

SEE AGRICULTURE. This Act amends provisions in Code Chapter 10B providing reporting requirements for business entities holding agricultural land in this state.

HOUSE FILE 2579 - Appeals From Condemnation Proceedings - Damage Awards - Interest

SEE CIVIL LAW, PROCEDURE & COURT ADMINISTRATION. This Act makes changes relating to disposition of an award of damages in a condemnation proceeding pending appeal of the award to district court and to the award of interest earned on the damages.

STATE GOVERNMENT

SENATE FILE 2188 - Human Rights - Asians and Pacific Islanders - Commission (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT. This Act establishes a Division on the Status of Iowans of Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage within the Department of Human Rights. The Commission on the Status of Iowans of Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage is also created. The commission consists of nine members, appointed by the Governor subject to Senate confirmation. Duties of the commission are specified and consist of advising and assisting the Governor and General Assembly on issues impacting Asian and Pacific Islander persons. The Act further allows the commission to accept gifts, grants, devises, or bequests of real or personal property from the federal government for the use and purposes of the commission.

SENATE FILE 2215 - Investments by Iowa Finance Authority - Funds Established by Treasurer of State (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS. This Act relates to the investment of moneys of the Iowa Finance Authority in funds within the Office of the Treasurer of State. The Act authorizes the authority to establish one or more funds within the State Treasury and invest moneys of the authority in such funds. Moneys invested by the Treasurer of State in such funds shall not revert to the General Fund of the State and interest accrued shall be moneys of the authority and shall not be credited to the General Fund of the State. The Act requires the Treasurer of State to enter into an agreement with the authority to carry out the provisions of the Act.

SENATE FILE 2308 - Legislators' Per Diem - 2004 Regular Session (full text of bill)

BY IVERSON AND GRONSTAL. This Act limits the payment of per diem of state legislators for the 2004 Regular Legislative Session to a maximum of 95 rather than 100 calendar days.

The Act takes effect May 3, 2004, and applies retroactively to April 15, 2004.

HOUSE FILE 2167 - Department of Inspections and Appeals - Inspections Division Eliminated (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT. Under current law, the Department of Inspections and Appeals is organized into four divisions: Administrative Hearings, Investigations, Inspections, and Health Facilities. As an efficiency measure, the actual duties of the Inspections Division have been absorbed into other parts of the department. For that reason, this Act eliminates references to the Inspections Division from the Iowa Code.

HOUSE FILE 2193 - Cosmetology Licensure - Training Requirements (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES. This Act relates to the manner in which hours of study requirements regarding licensure as a cosmetologist shall be determined. The Act provides additional clarification that the hours of study requirements currently required for licensure shall refer to clock hours, or semester credit hours or the equivalent thereof, as determined pursuant to administrative rule and regulations promulgated by the U. S. Department of Education.

HOUSE FILE 2201 - Massage Therapy - Exemptions From Licensure Requirements (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT. This Act provides that the licensure provisions of Code Chapter 152C, relating to massage therapy, shall not apply to a number of designated individuals. Among the individuals exempted are licensed health care professionals, out-of-state licensed individuals incidentally present in this state to teach a course of instruction related to massage and bodywork therapy or to consult with other licensed health care professionals, massage therapy students, individuals giving massage and bodywork to members of their immediate family, and individuals who restrict their manipulation of the soft tissues of the human body to the hands, feet or ears and who do not hold themselves out to be a massage therapist or perform massage therapy.

Additionally, the Act exempts specified individuals engaged within the scope of practice of a profession with established standards and ethics utilizing touch, words, and directed movement to deepen awareness of existing patterns of movement in the body as well as to suggest new possibilities of movement, provided that the practices performed or services rendered are not designated or implied to be massage therapy; individuals engaged within the scope of practice of a profession with established standards and ethics in which touch is limited to that which is essential for palpitation and affectation of the human energy system; and persons incidentally present in this state to provide services as part of an emergency response team working in conjunction with disaster relief officials.

HOUSE FILE 2207 - Substantive Code Corrections (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY. This Act contains statutory corrections that adjust language to reflect current practices, insert earlier omissions, delete redundancies and inaccuracies, delete temporary language, resolve inconsistencies and conflicts, update ongoing provisions, or remove ambiguities.

The Act includes changes to Code language on the following subjects: programs and institutions governed by the Department of Administrative Services, Department of Revenue, and their predecessor agencies; activities conducted by the Legislative Services Agency; the Iowa Lottery Authority; regulation of physician assistants; manufactured and mobile homes; the recording of the name of a farm; inspections of jails; local government reimbursement for prisoner expenses; animal feeding operations; insurance producers; the Money Services Act; the Interstate Compact for Adult Offender Supervision; agricultural products under the Life Science Products Code chapter; the Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System; qualified experts under the Indian Child Welfare Code chapter; temporary removal hearings in child in need of assistance proceedings; the crime of abandonment of a vehicle; obsolete references concerning the Microenterprise Development Revolving Fund, the Iowa Technology Center, a job training program study, and expired appropriations to the Groundwater Protection Fund; distribution of meat from hunters to Department of Corrections facilities; annexation of territory by a city; city council elections; property tax assessment; public utilities; regulation of various business entities; health maintenance organization annual reports; the plan to assure fair access to insurance requirements; forcible entry and detainer actions; scheduled violations for certain traffic offenses; no-contact orders issued in judgment and sentencing proceedings; district associate judge elections; area education agency (AEA) reorganizations; and future repeals of certain economic development and other initiatives established in 2003.

The changes relating to AEA reorganizations and the strike of a reference to the former status of the Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System within the former Department of Personnel take effect April 26, 2004, and are retroactively applicable to July 1, 2003. The corrections to the district associate judge elections provisions and the future repeals of the economic development and other initiatives take effect April 26, 2004.

HOUSE FILE 2208 - Nonsubstantive Code Corrections (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY. This Act makes Code changes and corrections that are considered to be nonsubstantive and noncontroversial, in addition to style changes.

Changes made include correcting references to or names of various agencies, terms, funds, programs, and other entities; correcting or updating references to various Code chapters and sections, some of which have been repealed; making what can best be described as grammatical or punctuation changes; correcting misspellings; replacing references to the Department of Administration Services with references to the department's predecessor agencies in provisions that relate to past events; deleting an incorrect calendar year reference; and making technical corrections to an Act to better reflect the intent of the Act's provisions. The correction to 2003 Iowa Acts, Chapter 91, relating to the date after which certain provisions in that Act apply to annuity contracts issued by life insurance companies, takes effect April 16, 2004, and applies retroactively to July 1, 2003.

HOUSE FILE 2262 - Public Employee Retirement Systems and Other Benefits - Miscellaneous Changes (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT. This Act makes numerous changes to public retirement systems, including the Public Safety Peace Officers' Retirement, Accident, and Disability System (PORS, Code Chapter 97A), the Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System (IPERS, Code Chapter 97B), the Statewide Fire and Police Retirement System (MFPRSI, Code Chapter 411), and the Judicial Retirement System (Code Chapter 602). The Act also authorizes a payroll deduction by state employees to purchase additional insurance coverage. The provisions of the Act concerning public retirement systems are as follows:

PUBLIC SAFETY PEACE OFFICERS' RETIREMENT, ACCIDENT, AND DISABILITY SYSTEM. The Act contains the following provision relating to PORS:

The Code sections providing portability of service between membership in PORS and MFPRSI are amended to provide that the amount transferred from the former to the new or current retirement system to obtain service credit in the current system is the greater of the average accrued benefit earned or the amount the member could receive as a refund from terminating service under the former system. A corresponding change to Code Chapter 411 is also made.

IOWA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM. The Act contains the following provisions relating to IPERS:

1. Service credit under IPERS does not include temporary employment during any quarter the member is otherwise on an unpaid leave of absence that is not authorized by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.
2. The date for changing the method of determining a member's three-year average covered wage to a calculation based on the member's highest 12 consecutive quarters of service is changed from July 1, 2005, to July 1, 2008.
3. An inactive member of IPERS does not become vested under IPERS solely by reaching age 55 as of July 1, 2005.
4. IPERS is permitted to waive the collection of benefits overpayments, contribution underpayments, or debts owed the system, if they occurred more than three years before the overpayment, underpayment or debt is discovered if there is no evidence of fraud or misconduct.
5. Wage reporting under IPERS is amended relating to the issue of whether wages reported appear to be a distortion of the normal wage progression pattern for an employee. The change defines this distortion as an increase of 10 percent or more between wages reported for any two consecutive years. The change permits IPERS to adjust or reallocate a member's wages if the distortion of the normal wage progression resulted from covering compensation that is excluded from the definition of covered wages or from a change in the schedule of wage payments for an individual.
6. If IPERS believes a person may have engaged in fraud, IPERS is permitted to refer the matter to the Auditor of State and to the appropriate law enforcement authorities.
7. The payment of a retirement allowance, or adjusted retirement allowance, under IPERS is amended to eliminate the ability of an IPERS member to request and obtain up to six months of retroactive payments of an allowance. Instead, payments are only made once an application for an allowance, or adjustment of an allowance, is made to the system.
8. The payment of IPERS allowances to members and members who are reemployed, relating to the disposition of smaller and inactive accounts, is changed. The Act provides that if an annual retirement benefit would be less than $600, the payment must be in a lump sum equal to the sum of the member's and employer's accumulated contributions. In addition, effective no later than July 1, 2006, if the accumulated contributions of a member who has had a five-year break in service or is deceased are less than $3,000, that amount shall be paid to the member, or the member's beneficiary, in full satisfaction of the member's claims under IPERS. A member or beneficiary has 60 days to repay the distribution and regain rights under IPERS. Finally, retired reemployed members who fail to annuitize or receive a lump sum distribution of their reemployment account balance within one year after terminating the reemployment if the increase in the member's retirement allowance based on this amount would be less than $600 per year shall be given a mandatory distribution of the member's and employer's accumulated contributions not used in the calculation of the member's retirement. A member has 60 days to repay the distribution and regain rights under IPERS.
9. Beginning July 1, 2005, IPERS will charge a processing fee to members who elect to receive paper warrants in lieu of electronic deposits of their IPERS retirement allowance. IPERS is given the authority to waive the fee for good cause.
10. New Code Section 97B.49 provides for the handling of dormant accounts. The new section provides that if any retirement allowance, death benefit, or other payment remains unpaid solely by reason of the inability of the system to locate the appropriate payee, the amount payable shall not be forfeited but shall be treated as a dormant account after the time for making a claim has run.
11. Airport fire fighters employed by the Military Division of the Department of Public Defense are transferred from the sheriffs and deputy sheriffs' category under IPERS to the protection occupation category.
12. The benefits and contribution calculations for the sheriffs and deputy sheriffs' category under IPERS is changed. The Act permits retirement at age 50 instead of age 55 if the sheriff or deputy has at least 22 years of service. This change is phased in over five years. In addition, the calculation of contributions payable for the sheriffs' category under IPERS is amended to provide that the cost of benefits provided for members shall be paid on a 50-50 basis by employee members and employers. Under current law, the cost of benefits is paid 60 percent by the employer and 40 percent by the employee member.
13. IPERS death benefit provisions are changed to provide that the option of receiving an IPERS preretirement death benefit, which is the actuarial present value of the member's accrued IPERS benefit, is only available to a beneficiary of an inactive member if the inactive member had at least 16 quarters of service credit.
14. Bona fide retirement requirements under IPERS are amended to provide that a person who first receives a retirement allowance under IPERS on or after July 2004, but before July 2006, may return to covered employment as a licensed health care professional by a public hospital after having qualified for one calendar month of retirement benefits and still receive retirement benefits. Under current law, a person must wait four months to return to employment covered by IPERS in order to continue receiving a retirement allowance. In addition, both IPERS and the Iowa Hospital Association are required to submit a report to the General Assembly by December 1, 2006, concerning this provision of the Act.
15. The Act amends a provision in the 2002 Iowa Acts applicable to IPERS that provided that an IPERS member who was furloughed between January 1, 2002, and June 30, 2003, could have the member's covered wage for purposes of determining IPERS retirement benefits recalculated based upon the salary the member would have received if the member had not been furloughed, if the member pays an amount to IPERS equal to the employer and employee contributions that would have been made on that portion of the salary lost due to the furlough. The Act allows members who exercised bumping rights and took a lower paid position in lieu of a layoff to be covered by this provision and also expands the period of time covered by this special provision to June 30, 2005. This section of the Act is retroactively applicable to January 1, 2002.

STATEWIDE FIRE AND POLICE RETIREMENT SYSTEM. The Act contains the following provisions relating to MFPRSI:

1. The physical exam for applicants for appointment to the positions covered under MFPRSI may include a test for HIV (AIDS).
2. The amount medical providers may charge for providing copies of medical records in connection with an application by a member for a disability under MFPRSI shall not exceed the reasonable cost of producing the records.
3. The Act allows a rollover of a member's account into an annuity contract or other eligible plan and permits nontaxable amounts to be rolled over into an eligible retirement plan.
4. The interest rate assumption adopted by the system, and not the court judgment and decree interest rate provided in Code Section 535.3, shall be used in calculating the system's subrogation amount.
5. Portability of service between membership in PORS and MFPRSI is amended in the same manner as was done under the PORS chapter.
6. City membership on the MFPRSI board is modified to provide that the population cutoff for small city (one member) and large city (three members) membership is decreased from 40,000 to 30,000.

JUDICIAL RETIREMENT SYSTEM. The Act contains the following provision relating to the Judicial Retirement System:

The Act establishes a special vesting provision which allows judges with at least four years of service as of April 26, 2004, to be deemed to have six years under the judicial retirement system for purposes of obtaining retirement benefits as a vested member of the system. A judge who leaves service prior to vesting receives only the contributions the judge made to the system during that service.

HOUSE FILE 2452 - Athletic Training - Licensure Requirements (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT. This Act provides that an individual engaged in the practice of athletic training must obtain a license pursuant to the provisions of Code Chapter 152D, Athletic Training. Previously, such individual had the option of utilizing the title of "athletic trainer" by becoming licensed, but licensure was not mandated.

The Act provides for new or revised definitions of terms utilized in Code Chapter 152D, and provides that "athletic training" includes the organization and administration of educational programs and athletic facilities and the education and counseling of the public on matters relating to athletic training.

The Act deletes provisions relating to requirements which must be fulfilled by out-of-state applicants for a license, and provides that application and renewal procedures, fees, and reciprocal agreements relating to a license to practice athletic training shall be established by rule by the Board of Athletic Training Examiners. The Act also provides that persons specified in Code Chapter 152D who are otherwise licensed to practice another profession shall not be considered to be practicing athletic training provided that they do not represent themselves to the public as athletic trainers. The Act additionally provides that an athletic trainer who is in the state temporarily with an individual or group that is participating in an athletic event and who is licensed, certified or registered by another state or country, or certified as an athletic trainer by the Board of Certification of the National Athletic Trainers Association or its successor organization, shall not be subject to the licensing requirements of Code Chapter 152D.

The Act provides that an individual who is a licensed athletic trainer may use the letters "LAT," and that it is unlawful to engage in the practice of athletic training, or use titles or abbreviations specified in the Act, unless an individual is licensed to do so. The Act changes the penalty provisions for a violation of the chapter from a simple to a serious misdemeanor, and provides for temporary licensure for individuals who have not passed a licensure examination administered or approved by the Board of Athletic Training Examiners by July 1, 2004. Such individuals shall be issued a temporary license for the three-year period commencing July 1, 2004, if specified requirements are satisfied, and an applicant issued such a temporary license must pass the examination on or before July 1, 2007, in order to remain licensed.

HOUSE FILE 2467 - IowAccess Advisory Council - Quorum (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT. This Act provides that a majority of the voting members of the IowAccess Advisory Council constitutes a quorum to conduct business. Currently, Code Section 17A.2, which automatically sets a quorum requiring no less than two-thirds of the members eligible to vote, applies to establishing a quorum for the council.

HOUSE FILE 2497 - State Government Employment - Sick Leave and Vacation Incentive Program - Employee Supervision <(full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT. This Act establishes a 2004 Sick Leave and Vacation Incentive Program for eligible employees of the executive branch of the state who agree to terminate from state employment. The program, which shall be administered by the Department of Administrative Services, is essentially similar to the program offered state employees during FY 2001-2002 and FY 2002-2003. The Act also requires the Legislative Council to offer a similar program to legislative branch employees.

The Act permits eligible executive branch employees for which the sum of the number of years of credited service under the Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System (IPERS) and the Public Safety Peace Officers' Retirement, Accident, and Disability System (PORS) and the employee's age as of December 31, 2004, equals or exceeds 75 to separate from service with the state and receive a sick leave and vacation incentive benefit payable in five fiscal years beginning with the fiscal year that ends on June 30, 2005. The incentive benefit is equal to the employee's unused vacation plus the lesser of an amount equal to 75 percent of the employee's regular annual salary or an amount equal to 75 percent of the value of the employee's sick leave. To receive the incentive benefit, an eligible employee must submit an application to participate in the program by May 21, 2004, separate from state employment on or after July 2, 2004, but no later than August 12, 2004, acknowledge the employee's ineligibility to return to permanent part time or permanent full time employment with the state, and waive any claims to unused sick leave or vacation balances otherwise payable upon termination of employment. Employees who participate in the program are eligible to continue to participate in group insurance coverage from the state in the same manner as employees who retire from state employment. The Act also permits release of IPERS records for the purpose of monitoring and administering the Sick Leave and Vacation Incentive Program. The Act also establishes a goal of increasing the ratio of employees per supervisor to 12 to 1 by December 31, 2005, for executive branch agencies.

The Act takes effect April 2, 2004.

HOUSE FILE 2520 - Government Purchasing Procedures - Iowa-Based Products and Services (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC GROWTH. This Act relates to purchasing preferences for Iowa-based products and services.

The Act provides that all requests for proposals for materials, products, supplies, provisions, and other needed articles and services to be purchased at public expense shall not knowingly be written in such a way as to exclude an Iowa-based company from submitting a proposal.